Vero Beach Press Journal
Lifestyle Section
Sunday, March 19, 2000
By Shelley Canupp
Press Journal Features Writer


Treating the whole person
Doctor explores the importance of body, mind, and spirit in dealing with cancer

Spiritual hunger gripped Jeremy Geffen at age 16 and set him on a search for answers to the mysteries of life and death.

His quest led him to explore Judaism with an Orthodox rabbi, Buddhism with a Zen master, and yoga and meditation with a Hindu spiritual teacher.

At 19, he lived for four years in an ashram (spiritual community) and explored Eastern religions and philosophies. But he always knew that someday he would be a doctor, and eventually he entered medical school. He wanted to care for people with cancer.

"I chose oncology because cancer patients and their families are right on the edge of two worlds," he said. "They need meticulous, impeccable medical care -- but, quite often, they're also literally staring into the unknown. So, they need love, wisdom and incredible kindness as well. I knew there was a better, more humane way to treat cancer patients than what is typically offered."

Today, at 43, Geffen is a board-certified medical oncologist, practicing in Vero Beach. He is founder and director of the Geffen Cancer Center and Research Institute, a 6,000-square-foot facility across from Indian River Memorial Hospital.

He treats his patients with an integrated approach to oncology, blending high-tech, state-of-the-art, scientific cancer treatments -- such as chemotherapy and radiation -- with alternative and complementary approaches to healing. This may include acupuncture, yoga, massage, and meditation.

Now Geffen has written his first book, focusing on a program designed to help cancer patients and their families.

The book, The Journey Through Cancer: An Oncologist's Seven-Level Program for Healing and Transforming the Whole Person (Crown, $24 hardcover) is a bestseller at the Vero Beach Book Center, said Dawn Bailey, director of marketing and publicity.

Geffen will autograph the book at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Vero Beach Book Center, 2145 Indian River Blvd., Vero Beach. The event is free and open to the public.

"It's a blend of information and stories of real people," Geffen said. "Over the last number of years I've had amazing experiences with patients. I started writing these stories down. Soon after, it became clear to me that I had to write a book."

One such experience occurred with Georgia native, Jack Montgomery, 78, who tried to put up a brave while waiting before learning whether he had cancer. At times, however, Montgomery would let down enough to allow Geffen to see the intense fear and sadness he had about having cancer and possibly dying. He was overwhelmed with grief at the thought of leaving his beloved family.

Then, after his diagnosis was confirmed -- lung cancer, which had spread to his liver -- something extraordinary happened, Geffen said. Montgomery reached out and asked if he could take the doctor's hand. Then he began to pray in his thick Georgia drawl.

"A surge of love filled my heart like a big wave," Geffen said. "I was afraid that I would start weeping, because I was so moved by his pure, raw, and absolutely breathtaking declaration of love and gratitude to God."

Then Geffen prayed silently "for the strength and courage to continue in this effort to realize a vision of medicine that honors and cares not only for the body, but for the mind, heart, and spirit as well." He discovered that, sometimes, cancer brings people to very different conclusions about where they are in life, and how they might wish to proceed.

"Most truly wish to do all they can to keep living," Geffen said. "Some, however, come to a point where they realize that they do not have the will or desire to fight their disease." Such was the case with Mrs. Golashevsky, a 73-year-old Polish woman newly diagnosed with colon cancer. She lived alone in a small apartment and had not seen a doctor for many years.

She and her husband escaped from Poland after World War II to come to the United States. Her husband had died two years before her diagnosis of cancer. She had no children and her only friends were from the Polish American Club near her apartment. One of those friends, a social worker named Rachel Kosala, took her to the hospital because Golashevsky started feeling tired all the time. She was weak and wasn't eating.

After testing and an operation to remove the tumor, doctors discovered her entire abdominal cavity was full of cancer. Malignant cells had spread everywhere. When Geffen was asked to see her, Golashevsky told him she was very afraid. "I'm afraid that I'm going to die," she said, according to the story in Geffen's book. Geffen was surprised then when she refused any chemotherapy treatments. "My husband is gone, and I have no children," she said. "I've lived a good life ... I"m ready to go now." But she started sobbing.

After some translating from the social worker, Geffen discovered Golashevsky was grateful for the many blessings in her life, but she had also suffered a great deal. She had lived through so many deaths, and so many horrible things in the war. She had terrifying images of death in her mind. Geffen helped her understand death by comparing it to wearing a new pair of shoes on the first day of school as a young girl

"Can you remember how your feet felt when you finally got home from school that day?" he said.

"Yes."

"How did they feel?"

"They hurt. A lot. By the time I got home my feet were really hurting."

"Exactly," he said. "Do you remember when you finally got home and you took your shoes off? Do you remember that moment?"

"Yes," she said. "I remember ... It felt so good. It felt wonderful."

"Dying is like that," Geffen said. "Dying is like taking off a pair of tight-fitting shoes. It doesn't hurt at all ... There's nothing to be afraid of."

Golashevsky smiled. She understood. Doctor and patient saw each other many times after that day, and Golashevsky was made as comfortable as possible. She was no longer afraid of dying. When she felt the end was near, she came by his office one last time to hug and say good-bye. Two weeks later Geffen received a letter from Kosala.

Geffen's approach respects and explores every possible avenue and resource for healing and transformation, blending East and West, body and mind, heart and technology, science and spirit. It's this holistic method of doctoring that has won Geffen international recognition, as well as devoted patients who travel from across the country for his services.

"Before writing the book I found myself answering the same questions over and over again, because the same issues come up when a person journeys through cancer," he said. "I wanted to get this information out -- all around the world."

Geffen knows what it's like to be treated as a patient and not a person. His father developed cancer during Geffen's last year in medical school and died within four months. Geffen was 29. "Because of my father's particular diagnosis, he was invariably regarded as someone who was basically already dead," Geffen said in the book. "The words METASTATIC GASTRIC CANCER hung like an unpleasant odor in the room each time they were spoken, producing the same unmistakable frown on the face of virtually every oncologist he saw."

The doctors used the most advanced technology to prolong his father's life, but they neglected his emotional needs, he said. When Geffen began seeing his own patients, he vowed to be different, to show compassion while using the most up-to-date treatments available.

Neither Geffen's book or cancer center promises any cures. What they offer is a greater quality of life.

"Dr. Geffen's vast knowledge, experience, insight and compassion in the treatment of cancer patients shine radiantly through in The Journey Through Cancer, " said Dr. Deepak Chopra, author of Quantum Healing and How to Know God during a recent book tour stop in Vero Beach.

Geffen is a summa cum laude graduate of Columbia University, and received his medical doctor degree with honors from New York University School of Medicine. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of California at San Diego Medical Center, and fellowship training in hematology and oncology at University of California at San Francisco Medical Center.

In addition to his academic medical training, Geffen has spent more than 20 years exploring the spiritual and healing traditions of the East. He has traveled to India, Nepal, and Tibet, and has had many years of training in yoga, meditation, and other approaches to self-awareness.

In 1994, he opened the local cancer center.

Geffen's program, as presented in the book, empowers patients and their families to understand and master seven dimensions of healing. These include:

Level 1. Education and Information: Giving patients answers to urgent questions they have about their disease and their treatment options.

Level 2. Psycho-social Support: Focusing on the need for and benefits of a strong support network.

Level 3. The Body as Garden: Exploring the vast array of alternative complementary therapies.

Level 4. Emotional Healing: Helping patients and families deal with the emotional challenges of cancer.

Level 5. The Nature of Mind: Exploring how patients' thoughts and beliefs influence their journey.

Level 6. Life Assessment: Showing patients how to discover their life's deepest meaning and purpose.

Level 7. The Nature of Spirit: Connecting patients to the profoundly healing spiritual aspect of life we all share.

Ultimately, Geffen reveals how cancer can become a catalyst to greater self-awareness and understanding for anyone.

The book also contains four extensive appendices, containing additional resources for patients and families. These include: helpful books, tapes and CDs; cancer support organizations; and cancer information sites on the Internet. The bookstore in Geffen's cancer center sells many of these items, including The Journey Through Cancer.

Additional information is available at www.geffencenter.com.

"The most rewarding part of my work is seeing fear and despair transformed into love and joy in the hearts, minds, and spirits, of the patient and their loved ones,"he said. "This is what makes this work so fulfilling."